Hey ya'll! Thanks to my new followers, those who keep tabs on the story, and the new readers who went through not only all of this story, but the whole previous story as well!

- Matt & Christian talk strategy as they meet each other before their match against their older brothers.

- The younger Orton gets a surprise visit from a fan.

Here we go!

Matt powerwalked to the gentle murmur of the crowd of the live event in between matches. Orton had been somewhat satisfied with his brother's concession, but it still seemed to him Randy's mindset had been shifted exclusively to singles competition despite the pair still holding tag team gold. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing; Matt was just concerned with how the singles mindset could warp the relationship between the two.

Turning the corner, Matt eyed Christian coming from the opposite direction. The two met right in front of the gorilla position.

"Look … I know this is a tag match," Matt started, "but let me have Randy. I need to beat some sense into him."

Christian glared at Matt with a full on deer-in-the-headlights look. "Well, hi to you too."

"Sorry … I just …" Matt outstretched his hand and Christian accepted. "Randy's rubbed me the wrong way lately."

"Like?"

Matt hesitated; he and Christian had history between each other and Matt didn't know if he could open up to him. But with Christian being the younger brother… just maybe…

"Randy wants to be a singles wrestler and totally ditch being a tag team, but I want to run with these belts as long as we can. He's done everything but outright say he doesn't want to be Tag Team champs with me."

"Whoa … Sounds like not everything's going well in Orton land. But can you blame him? I mean … He's held that Intercontinental strap for way too long. He's hungering for bigger and better things. Don't you feel that way?"

"Well … yeah. But I can wait for it. He can't. Hell, I want the Intercontinental title right now more than the World title."

"So you'd rather risk the relationship between you two instead of just living happily? Look, I'm not trying to talk you guys out of the Tag Team titles or anything but just let it flow. When you lose, move on. There will be a time down the road when you can pick them back up again."

"You sound just like him."

"Maybe he's right then. You know … Randy's real protective of you and I know he's saved your ass a bunch. Why not think of it as paying him back for what he's done for you?"

Matt stopped for a moment. Christian continued.

"Okay … Okay, how about this: you take the Intercontinental title from your brother and let him go after the World title?"

"Look, that's good and all, but it's missing the point. Randy being a singles competitor is going to completely mess up the relationship between me and him. He's going to see me as an obstacle instead of a brother."

"Listen to yourself. This whole scenario you're playing out in your head is what has been going on for the last year and a half or so with the Intercontinental title. You've had a ton of matches with him over that very belt and you're the best of friends. I don't see the problem." Christian slapped Matt on the back. "I'll say it again. If you want the Intercontinental title that bad, take it from your brother and let him go after the World ti…"

Waterproof Blonde's "Just Close Your Eyes" started to blare on the speakers, interrupting Christian. He nodded quickly at Matt before walking past the curtain onto the stage. Matt remained behind, still perusing his thoughts.

"Christian and his brother have been through some shit too. Maybe he's right. I sure hope he is. I mean … maybe we could grow together as singles wrestlers just as much as we do as a tag team. Hopefully even more. Jesus, why am I freaking out so much about this?! Get it out of your head, Orton, and just focus on the match!"

"Burn in My Light" cued Matt to step beyond the curtain and Orton pose to the golden pyro with a sense of renewed faith. As Lilian announced Matt down to the ring, she took notice of a bigger smile than usual, which made her excited and curious as well. Matt shook hands with his partner again before mounting the turnbuckle and holding his belt high in the air. The sea of fans was dotted with Orton, MKO, and RKO signs and, at least for the moment, Matt forgot about his situation.

"You think you know me…"

Edge made his way down, eliciting a split reaction from the crowd; some clearly were taking the sides of the younger brothers. "Burn in My Light" played for the second time, prompting Randy to try to out do Matt's entrance, except he had the Intercontinental title in his left hand. As Randy came down and posed on the turnbuckle, Randy noticeably glared down outside the ring to his little brother with a giant smirk as he raised the Intercontinental belt. Matt could only smirk back.

"That belt is mine and you don't even know it", Matt thought to his brother, even though Randy had his mind closed off to him.

The younger Orton and Christian got back up into the ring, quickly discussing who would start. After seeing Randy stay in the ring, Matt quickly insisted he start. The crowd's roar increased twofold upon realizing the increase of intensity for the match. Randy and Matt both looked around at the crowd as the bell rang, both remembering the seemingly insane reaction from their previous matches against each other.

Matt held out a closed fist for a friendly fist bump, and, after a second, Randy returned the gesture. Randy then held an open hand up in the air, wanting a test of strength. This lit another flame underneath the crowd and underneath Matt as well, who cautiously interlocked fingers with Randy's hand. The second set of hands were intertwined and, within a millisecond, the struggle had begun.

Randy's height gave him the leverage advantage, but Matt's greater bulk countered it, leaving not much room at all for movement. Matt sensed this and planned a trick, but Randy beat him to the punch, wrapping his leg around Matt's calf and tripping him down to the mat. Randy grabbed Matt by the right arm and twisted it, keeping Matt's movement limited. Despite the pain, Matt pushed up against it, backing Randy up to the turnbuckle and breaking the hold. Keeping up the offense, Randy grabbed Matt by the wrist and Irish Whipped him to the turnbuckle Edge was standing near. Orton chased his little brother, delivering a shoulder to the midsection. Matt fell forward onto his knees in a fit of coughing; Randy followed up with a tight headlock. Orton brought his brother to his feet and dropped him down with an inverted Backbreaker, wrapping Matt's whole body around Randy's back. Matt fell to the ground and Randy went for the cover.

"1, 2,..."

But only a two count. Randy picked his brother up again in a headlock and drug him to his team's corner. Tagging Edge in, Randy slung Matt to the ropes and immediately got out of the way, letting Edge spear Matt down. With it still early, Edge picked Matt back up and slammed him down on his knee in a regular Backbreaker. Another quick tag and both Randy and Edge grabbed Matt by the neck, lifted him up, and brought him down on two knees in a double Backbreaker. Christian and the crowd collectively winced as Matt grabbed his back and yelped loud enough for the whole arena to hear. Randy posed for the crowd, getting cheers from his side and boos from Matt's. The older Orton picked up his younger brother slowly, savoring each moment of his dominance so far.

But an arm chopped the back of Randy's knee, causing him to buckle. Matt scrambled to his feet and, in desperation, latched his arm around his brother's neck in a sleeper hold. Despite the massive throbbing pain in his lower back, Matt focused everything he had on putting his brother down to the mat. Wisely, Randy stumbled backwards into the nearby ropes, forcing the rope break. Nearly acting on adrenaline alone, Matt whipped Randy into the ropes and let loose a drop kick as Randy bounced back. Matt's lower back seized up when he landed, causing both Ortons to lay on the mat recovering. Matt's pride wanted to keep at it, but his body desperately wanted to tag out.

Pride won out once the crowd started to chant "Let's go Matt!".

Matt looked over to see Randy getting to one knee, dashed over, and drug his brother over to his corner. Christian moved out of the way as Matt lifted Randy up to to the top turnbuckle and hooked him up for a belly-to-belly suplex. Before executing the maneuver, Matt extended his hand for a tag. Christian made the tag and went up to the adjacent turnbuckle as Matt dropped his brother to the mat; Christian then went flying with a simple splash off the top rope, attempting the cover afterwards.

"1, 2, …"

Randy kicked out, eliciting a small round of cheers from the crowd and an angry stomp from his brother on the apron. Randy found himself being pushed up to the opposite corner, only to be victim to a flurry of kicks to the midsection from Christian. Edge could be heard screaming angrily from the opposite corner at his little brother, but Christian refused to let up. Even Matt had to bark at him before he stopped. Christian picked Randy up and whipped him to the ropes for a clothesline, but Randy ducked and caught Christian in a rotating powerslam on the way back, leaving both himself and Christian sprawled out on the mat. Both Edge and Matt grabbed the tag rope and extended their hands as far they could to their partners, desperately wanting to reach and tag themselves in. Randy's longer reach allowed Edge to come in first, just grabbing Christian and dragging his body away from Matt, mere inches before the tag was made. Randy rolled to the ring apron and pulled himself up. With Edge working on Christian in the middle of the ring, Matt locked eyes with Randy and pointed to his head.

"What do you want, little man?", Randy asked, keeping the rivalry active.

"Look … Christian gave me some advice before the match started. I … I'm still not one hundred percent on board with us going singles, but he put together a good point. We've been trading the Intercontinental title back and forth and we've been okay. Who's to say we won't do the same with the World title?"

"Who's to say I'm going to let you take the World title from me?"

Matt rolled his eyes and a grin popped up on his face. "Yeah … nothing's gonna change. To hell with it then. Let's let it ride."

"Well … its good to see you finally come around."

"I never said anything about completely coming around. I expect you to be on this shit next week at Survivor Series. As long as we put everything we have into every tag team match we have with these belts, I'm satisfied, even if we lose."

"ORTON!"

Both Randy and Matt were shaken out of their trance to see both Edge and Christian flat on the mat reaching out for a tag. Matt still wasn't completely recovered from the earlier assault on his lower back, but that didn't stop his reaching out to his tag team partner. The bolstering cacophony of the crowd bubbled to a fever pitch as both Ortons were tagged in simultaneously. Matt and Randy started to exchange punches and forearms in the middle of the ring, not letting either get the upper hand. Matt finally got the advantage by grabbing Randy's shoulder and wrapping his brother's arm around his back. Randy's howl morphed into an angry sneer as he tried to wriggle out of his brother's hold. Matt ended those attempts by hooking his brother's shoulder, lifting him up, and slamming him down on his back. Not letting him rest, Matt picked Randy right back up and hooked his neck in what looked like a reverse DDT, but Orton launched his older brother up and over in a reverse suplex.

Matt pounded his chest with his fist twice and Orton posed to the crowd before dropping down to the mat to stalk his brother getting back up. The crowd sizzled, knowing either an MKO or an RKO was coming. Matt signaled over to Christian to be ready to jump in should Edge try to interfere. As Randy got to his feet, Matt lifted a knee into Randy's stomach before hooking Randy's head and lifting him up for the MKO. Randy managed to slip out and reverse it, pushing Matt to the ropes. Randy did the same to his brother, kneeing Matt before setting up, surprisingly, Matt's own MKO. Unlike his little brother, Randy was successful, landing his brother's signature move on himself. Edge dove in to hold Christian back as Randy went for the cover.

"1, 2, 3!"

"Here are your winners, Edge, and the Intercontinental Champion, Randy Orton!"

The ref held Randy and Edge's arms high in the air as Christian pulled Matt to the outside. Helping him sit up, Matt looked up as his brother was handed the Intercontinental title. Randy mounted the turnbuckle closest to Matt and lifted the belt high in the sky while glaring directly down at him.

"Get like me, little man! You can't handle this!", Randy yelled down to his brother after flexing to him and the crowd . Even though Matt was holding the back of his head, Matt managed to flip the finger in defiance. Christian went ahead with Edge up the ramp as Matt crawled back into the ring, extending a hand to his brother. Randy accepted and they went in for a hug before Matt held his brother's hand in the area in a show of sportsmanship. Both Ortons left the ring, Randy with his arm around his brother's shoulder.

Lilian nodded in affirmation as the pair disappeared behind the curtain.

The night started to wrap up after Randy and Matt (since Eric and John were prohibited by Austin) had to make a save for the last match of Raw; Goldberg decided to butt in after Batista had a tough match against Scott Steiner. From backstage, Barringer and Cena both cheered the Ortons on as they Double RKOed their enemy. After the ring was cleared, the gang came out and signed autographs, took pictures, and just hung out with the people who were patient enough to say behind after Raw went off the air. Of course, Michael, Adrian, and Travis stayed behind, trying to hog Matt's attention.

"You know", Matt started, still kinda out of breath from attacking Goldberg, "you three are here every damn Monday. You probably have a damn photo album full of stuff from over the last year or two. Why do you still come?"

"For you, bro!", Adrian chipped in. "It was cool coming before you were on the roster, but since you and your brother popped up, its like watching you in powerlifting competitions back in high school!"

"A personal connection to all this makes it all worthwhile", Travis added in.

Randy and Matt looked at each other, nodded in agreement, and then gathered everyone for one last group photo before the arena staff started kicking the rest of the crowd out. But before everything calmed down, Michael started to repeatedly poke Matt in the shoulder.

"Dude … look up there in the middle section. There's just a lonely person up there."

Matt never noticed it, but there was one single person, a female, left sitting in the second level of the arena. Once he looked, Matt's breath seemed to be sucked out of him like air being sucked out of a damaged space station. There was no mistaking who that was.

"How … how the hell … ", Randy thought, "... how is she here? Didn't she just call you?"

Matt didn't answer. Everyone saw Matt's weird expression and looked up to where he was looking. Two and two were quickly put together, but no one knew how to react when Matt hopped the barrier and started walking up towards her. Amy looked like she was going to hop the barrier as well and go after him, but Eric held her back.

Once Matt got close, the visual was confirmed: it was definitely Camilla. She held up her ticket; Matt guessed she did to prove she was here legitly. An arena employee was about to say she had to leave, but Matt waved the man away. Orton sat down next to his ex-wife.

"I gotta say … I'm kinda impressed you're here. Its been two weeks. You look okay considering what happened that night."

"Well … you gave me a concussion. I'm still not 100 percent, obviously. I had to ask for special seating that wasn't bombarded with lights. I can't look at bright lights without my head throbbing in pain."

"... sorry."

"Don't be. You were right. I needed help. And with what I was doing and where she was going, if that night didn't happen …"

"Wait … she? Who are you talking about?"

Camilla paused for a moment. "Remember when I told you I was diagnosed with schizophrenia? There was a voice in my head telling me what to do. Eventually, it got so bad I thought she was me."

"A voice in your head?", Matt questioned, suddenly being reminded of what he felt that night. There was definitely something wrong with him, and seeing something similar pop up with Camilla didn't make him feel any better.

"My doctor says I need to acknowledge it before I can start the healing process. If I deny it was there, it will just make it stronger. If I recognize it as a separate being, I can become stronger to help force it out. But … but I need to tell you something. I came to say goodbye."

Matt didn't really say anything, but his face showed it all. His eyes and eyebrows widened and stretched to the max and his mouth opened in protest, but Camilla put a finger to his mouth to cover it.

"I was doing nothing but hurting you in a bunch of different ways. You gave me the chance to recognize this by doing what you did that night. And if… if I just went back to the environment the voice in my head thrived in, I would be preventing myself from getting better. If I ever come back to the WWE, I'll be going to the brand you aren't on."

Matt couldn't come up with anything to say. Even though he had tried to convince himself something like this would be the most appropriate course of action, there was a little piece of him holding on to some sort of hope. A tear started to fall down his right cheek.

"Oh, look at you. How sweet. You still care, don't you? Just look at it this way, and this sounds cliché as all fuck, if you still care, the best thing you can do is let me go and let me heal. Go out there and find someone else. They're a better match than I would ever be. Hell, ask Lilian to find someone for you, she's supposedly a psychic."

She wiped the tear off of Matt's face, then reached over and gave him a hug, putting her face on Matt's shoulder. Matt put a hand on the back of her head and closed his eyes, trying to keep more tears from coming out.

"I'm gonna go now", Camilla said. "I've got to get back to the rehab center. I came here without telling anyone." She got up and started walking up the arena's stairs to the exit. Matt stayed seated and turned around, watching her wave as she disappeared out the exit. Randy had his eyes on the pair the entire time, telling the rest of the gang to disperse as Matt and Camilla had their conversation. When Camilla left, just Randy and Matt were remaining in the arena, except for the WWE stage crew taking down the TitanTron and ring. Randy walked up to his brother, who was still in the seat, his face in his hands.

"Its really over, isn't it?", Randy asked.

No response.

"Well … at least it won't be in the back of your mind anymore."

"She said she had a voice in her head. I think I did too that night. Randy, I really think I have a problem."

"Voices, huh? Would you believe me if I said I hear voices in my head too?"

"... you know? Yes, actually. Maybe it explains some of the shit I'm going through."

Randy chuckled. "Some of the shit you're going through? Think about some of the shit I went through. Remember what I told you about how I did something I don't like to talk about?"

Matt pulled his head out of his hands, now genuinely interested, and looked over at his brother. "Please tell me this isn't going to make me puke."

"No … but you'll be disgusted with me. About 2 weeks after the accident that killed my girlfriend, my best friend in high school and I got into a fight about how I reacted to it. It was about that time when I started to hear them … the voices, I mean. I let one tell me what to do."

Randy paused, the subject matter obviously hard to put into words. "I ... I nearly killed him, Matt. Ended up paralyzing him from the waist down. Went to jail for it. I don't know how, but Dad got me out. I was only seventeen years old."

Matt was punched in the stomach, figuratively, now for the second time tonight.

"He made me train to become a wrestler in order to focus my energy on something constructive. That's why I suggested to you a couple of weeks ago to do the same. Camilla let her voice get the better of her. She didn't control it. It's actually great she's on the track to recovery and her leaving for good is probably best for you and best for her. If you control the voices, they can't control you." Randy slapped Matt on the back. "I don't want something like that to happen to you this young. Come on … let's go get something to eat. It'll help you get your mind off this."

Matt nodded. The two got up, walked down the stairs, and headed behind the now half taken down TitanTron.

"So we're crazy then?", Matt thought, not wanting anyone around him to hear once they got back to the gang backstage.

"Nope. Even if we actually are, don't think that way. That kind of thinking will lead you down the path Camilla took. Focus on training. Focus on the tag belts. Hell, focus on my Intercontinental title. That's sort of what I did. Can you see why I want to go after the World title so bad? It'll help me focus."

Matt's view of Randy's drive toward singles competition was now under a brand new light now.

"Holy shit … I never … I didn't …."

"Shut up, grab your bag, and lets get the hell to a restaurant."

Friday night at the airport in St. Louis. Since Survivor Series took place in Dallas, Texas this year, Matt was wide awake and happy. Just the prospect of being back in his home state bolstered his spirits, much to the dismay of pretty much everyone else in the group, save for Eric. Late night flights typically weren't as full, so there would be less chance of running into several fans. The flight would only take an hour and a half. Matt and Eric decided to upgrade to get a seat near the front of the plane so they wouldn't wake up any of the rest of the group. As soon as everybody boarded, everyone but Matt and Eric either put headphones in their ears or started counting sheep.

"You excited as much as I am?", Matt asked Eric. "Texas and Survivor Series! Then Raw is in San Antonio! We're gonna go home!"

"Excited and nervous! It would be nice to go back home as the World Heavyweight Champion."

"You're saying it wrong. You are going home as the World Heavyweight Champion."

Eric chuckled nervously again. "You were always the optimistic one."

"You have to be at the level we're at. Next World Champion, current Tag Team champion, and next Intercontinental champ all in the same row on an airplane."

"So you and Randy are gonna go at it yet again, eh?"

"Look, us facing each other may be getting old, but you can't deny the crowd is searing hot for it every single time. You've got the younger half of the crowd versus the older half nearly every single time. Austin couldn't pass up on an opportunity for ratings again."

"Maybe this time you can win for a change."

Eric burst out laughing as Matt's eyes bore a hole in Eric's skull.

"When we get to the hotel, I'm slamming your goddamn face into the ground."

"Yeah, yeah…"

"Speaking of losing … I guess … Have you thought about what you're going to do if you don't win Sunday?"

Without thinking, Eric shot back. "Train my ass off. Face different people in the ring, learn how to deal with different styles, and then get another shot when it's my time. Dave and I had a long talk after we trained together last night. It's all about getting better. Not letting a loss get you down, getting your ass back up, and hitting the gym again and again and again to train."

"I'm genuinely impressed. You're usually not this positive."

"Well, you and Dave have really helped me grow in terms of being an athlete and a role model. We've got kids out there looking up to us, Matt. Don't you think that's crazy? Kids! Matt, we were those kids not a couple of years ago!"

"No kidding. It's not just crazy. It's batshit insane. I feel like we have this conversation every three months or so, but it doesn't hold any less truth than it did back then."

"Do you think we'll be in this business for the rest of our lives?"

"Well … I don't plan to quit anytime soon. Unless my body tells me it can't go any further, I'm gonna be in that ring for as long as I can go. And since I've got this magic mumbo jumbo going on with marshmallows, I may be here for a very, very long time."

"Same. Except without the marshmallow thing. But I did want to ask you one thing."

"Really? Shoot."

"It would really mean alot to me if, sometime down the line, you and I had a run at the tag titles. You're my best friend and my mentor, and being tag champs would you would mean the fucking world."

Matt was momentarily stunned. "Coming from someone who was moping around at the possibility of not being able to go for the World title, that's one hell of a thing to say. You've really come around in the last week or so."

"Well, Amy did drag me to the doctor and I'm taking something."

"Nice. And, once Randy and I have a break from the tag straps, I'd be honored to go at them with you." Matt held out his hand for Eric to shake, and Barringer accepted.

"You know … things have really been looking up as of late. We've all had a little crisis recently, but we've all come back. Everything's gonna be okay."

- Survivor Series is up next on the radar. The tag team match between the two sets of brothers is up first, and the Ortons make some last minute plans before the match begins. Can they pull off another successful title defense?

- A newly energized Barringer goes up against his good friend and one of his worst enemies. Can he pull off the win and become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history?

Thanks for reading!

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